New Album Release Round-Up: May 2026

Every month brings more new music than anyone can reasonably keep up with—even the No Ripcord team.

Our Album Release Round-Up collects the records we didn’t cover in full but still consider worth your time. Think of it as a spiritual successor to our original Quick Takes feature. No hype, no snark, just honest reviews.

American Football
LP 4
(Polyvinyl)

Any American Football release since their beloved debut LP maintains a tricky balance between renewal and reinvention. The truth is that they’ve stuck to a patchy middle ground on LP4, though there are a few unexpected bright spots. Take the sombre, unsyncopated opener, “Man Overboard,” which pushes the band’s rhythmic interplay into an emotionally sweeping build. The same can be said for “No Feeling” and “Patron Saint of Pale,” both of which deliver exactly the soft strumming and expressive bends you’d expect from them with a few new tricks. But the same cannot be said for primary lyricist Mike Kinsella, who has not applied any restraint since but instead doubled down on his melodramatic yearning. Stomach churning lines like “And I welcomed death in the dark/I slit my wrists in the dark” and “Sedatives and therapists, there must be a better way to settle this” highlight serious issues that could benefit from some thoughtful reflection. (JR)

Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti
Almost Waking
(Unheard of Hope)

This  collaboration between acclaimed Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti and prolific American guitarist Bill Orcutt came about after Fratti casually referenced Orcutt’s music in an article. A free-flowing, lively affair, Almost Waking is a wonderful reminder to grab hold of life’s opportunities. Naturally, given the restless genre-hopping and experimental spirit of its two creators, it’s not always an easy listen—but that doesn’t mean it’s a tough slog either. “El Inicio es cuestión de suerte,” for example, is positively pretty, with Orcutt’s simple guitar repetitions providing a sure foundation for Fratti’s delicate vocal. Meanwhile, the more dissonant “Arise from Graves and Aspire” features some wonderful interplay between Orcutt’s spiky guitar and Fratti’s majestic cello. Almost Waking crosses genres, generations, and cultures, serving as a testament to the beauty of true collaboration. (DC)

Cola
Cost of Living Adjustment
(Fire Talk)

You’d think that transitioning from his previous project, the sneakily influential Montreal art-punks Ought, would present a challenge for Tim Darcy. But after two promising releases, Darcy and his bandmates in Cola lean into their melodic strengths for their strongest effort yet. Darcy counters his usual monotone delivery with punchy post-punk hooks (“Satre-torial,” “Much of a Muchness”) that feel like more immediate versions of his seminal LP, Sun Coming Down. But Cost of Adjustment Living has plenty to differentiate itself, like on “Hedgesitting,” on which the trio sets a groove-oriented hip-hop drum beat against a soft bed of pillowy guitars. Caught in his typical existential malaise, Darcy explores life’s mundane absurdities in abstract wordplay. Driven by bassist Ben Stidworthy’s tight performance, Darcy sings about how “In the shifty days, there were fifty ways to leave our doldrums” over an imposing yet steady rhythm on “Forced Position.” Just one of the many ways that he makes the ordinary seem compelling and mysterious. (JR)

Autour de Lucie
Hors Monde
(Microcultures)

French indie pop band Autour de Lucie have been in the game for over thirty years now, yet Hors Monde is only their sixth studio record in a career defined by breaks and reunions. Nowadays, the group’s line-up is essentially a duo, with singer Valérie Leulliot and multi-instrumentalist Sébastien Lafargue serving as their creative hub. Consequently, Hors Monde feels like a cohesive vision, with a nicely balanced tracklist and a consistent sound. Autour de Lucie clearly know what works for them—and how to execute it. Opener “Quelque part” stands out, possibly by virtue of coming first, on a record that is defined and perhaps even slightly compromised by its sonic consistency. (DC)

Kurt Vile
Philadelphia’s been good to me
(Verve)

Ever since he released Wakin on a Pretty Daze in 2013, Kurt Vile has got his rambling jams down to a science. He’s also never shown signs of phoning it in, adding light experimental touches that perfectly complement his languid folk rock. Which makes all the more surprising that his tenth studio album, Philadelphia’s been good to me, plays a little too complacent with itself. That’s not to say that Vile shows genuine care on tracks like “99 BPM” and “Holiday OKV,” where he looks back on the changes that have shaped his life—grief being a big one—as if sifting through home videos. Even on “Chance to Bleed,” he reckons with the potential death of creativity. But while his heart is in the right place, Vile intentionally locks into a hypnotic groove that makes these songs feel a little undercooked. (JR)

The Bug Club
Every Single Muscle
(Sub Pop)

The Bug Club are a curious proposition. In small doses, their scrappy brand of lyrics-first indie rock is frequently humorous, often very catchy, and pretty much always endearing. Their best songs—think “Quality Pints” and “Marriage”—are undeniably great fun, but over the course of a whole album their schtick starts to feel a little overbearing. Fortunately, Every Single Muscle feels like a step in the right direction. Rather than just bludgeoning the listener over the head with the same type of song over and over again, it ebbs and flows, rises and falls, and generally shows the kind of range that makes album length projects work. The Welsh duo serves up twee indie pop (“Look Like Me,” “Make It Count”) alongside more jarring post-punk. Indeed, the impressive “A Good Day for Dying” evokes early Wire—at least for a moment. Elsewhere, I’m reminded of Art Brut and even Kaiser Chiefs’ better moment(s). This is steady progress. (DC)

The Field
Now You Exist
(Studio Barnhus)

There’s a cyclical element to Alex Willner’s minimalist techno that provides a sense of blissful permanence. Willner—the creative brainchild behind The Field—may have been absent for eight years, but once “In Our Dreams” settles into a looping groove, it’s as if he’d never left. Considering there’s almost an exacting precision to his main albums—which all clock in at almost the exact time—it makes sense that the 41-minute Now You Exist may seem like a minor work by comparison. But make no mistake: the glacial soundscapes of “Hey Baby” and the title track hit with the same euphoric highs that made albums like From Here We Go Sublime generational works of art. Aside from those spectral moments, little holds the EP together, suggesting that Willner is warming up before going back full throttle. (JR)

Mad Honey
Bridge Over Cumberland
(Deathwish Inc.)

On their latest full-length, Oklahoma City quintet Mad Honey expertly oscillate between biting shoegaze and the kind of Mazzy Star-inspired dream pop that conjures up images of Twin Peaks. As a fan of both of these sounds, I approve. Tuff Sutcliffe’s vocals rise to the challenge throughout—strong enough to cut through the noise on heavier moments like “Somehow,” yet suitably ethereal when the mood requires, as evidenced on the superb opener “I am a Wall, I am a House.” With so many young bands in this sphere seemingly content to pick a lane and stay in it, it’s refreshing to see Mad Honey demonstrating such range on Bridge Over Cumberland, which is every bit as good as Deary’s more widely acclaimed Birding. (DC)